The Five Funniest Videos on Youtube

(Originally published on Yahoo! Voices on January 25, 2011. Links in this article were extracted then)

In this article, I list what I think are the four funniest videos now available on youtube.com. This is intelligent humor- meaning that it is funny while still being relatively dignified. Much of the comedy has to do with the words that are said. There is no slapstick or bodily functions to be found in these videos, only good, clean fun. And each skit just improves with repeated viewing! Each description includes who posted it, whatever description the poster put with it, and a brief idea of what to expect when you click the accompanying link. They are listed in order. Get some tissues to wipe your eyes, sit back, and laugh until you can't breathe! The object here is enjoyment- and remember, laughter has in fact been scientifically proven to be the best medicine.

1. Jedimaster0096 shares with us the funniest sketch. From the second season of "A Bit Of Fry and Laurie", this is Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie discussing "Beauty and Ideas". This sketch proves beyond all doubt that these two actors are comedic geniuses. The discussion itself centers around an actual philosophy and this sketch has been used in college classes for perusal and dissection on this and similar theories. What other sketch can boast of that? Fry leads the discussion with an overwhelmed Laurie struggling to keep up. Fry continually changes Laurie's name throughout- even calling him 'lovelet' at one point- and exhausts himself with passion for his subject. There are times when you can see both of them struggling not to laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RQzRhH67Q0

2. Albanbytyci gives us Victor Borge's "Phonetic Punctuation". Just what show this sketch came from is not listed. But this hilarious jewel is just what it says: what if we spoke punctuation as well as words? After demonstrating the sounds of various punctuation marks, Borge reads a short story with these sounds. If you do not fall out of your seat, I'll be very surprised! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF4qii8S3gw

3. Johal91a has posted another Victor Borge moment. This one is Borge's "Inflationary Language" where he inflates the numbers that naturally occur in the English language with one number higher. Thus, as Johal91a points out, anyone becomes anytwo, etc. Again, he reads a short story to demonstrate this language. Imagine the practice that had to go into this sketch before he could perform it! Again, you're certain to fall out of your seat! My favorite line: "Get out of here, you three-faced triple crosser!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY6kElOYcd8&NR=1

4. BBC gives us the longest sketch in this article. At the time, David Tennant and Catherine Tate were co-stars on "Dr. Who" and here Tennant is Tate's new English teacher for "Comic Relief" in 2007. First she jibes him for being Scottish, brilliantly throws out some "Dr. Who" references, and finally lampoons Shakespeare in a fashion that will have you crying in merriment in short order. Perhaps the best bit is at the end where Tate quotes the entirety of "Sonnet 130" as if her mouth were a machine gun designed to slap Tennant hard in the face. You've never heard the Great Bard like this before and likely won't again any time soon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxB1gB6K-2A

5. BrokerTim uploaded this brilliant video of his "dad at Comedy Barn" in Tennessee. This is for those of you who feel the need for less intellectual comedy at this point. This video became so popular that a ringtone was derived from it and a website was launched at http://thelaughman.com. I could watch this all day and I'll still laugh! Poor guy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Y4keqTV6w

Review of "You and Three Others Are Approaching A Lake"

(Originally published on Yahoo! Voices on March 9, 2012)

Anna Moschovakis, "You And Three Others Are Approaching A Lake" (Coffee House Press, 2011) 119 pages, poetry, $16. Winner of the 2011 James Laughlin Award given by the Academy of American Poets.

I was a little distracted by the title when first opening this. It suggested the scenes at Lake Silencio for this fan of the BBC series "Doctor Who". But, of course, Anna Moschovakis had nothing of the sort in mind when she penned her second poetry collection "You And Three Others Are Approaching A Lake." What did she have in mind? I'm not sure. The lake does have some metaphorical significance, but I couldn't sniff it out with certainty. What is clear is that this is poetry with a mission.

Moschovakis employs lines that are aurally as far from poetry as one can get. They are often almost dry statements which seem to be clipped from various news broadcasts and stitched together. This is not to suggest that this is not poetry, however. This is poetry in the sense of its not-showing-all-the-cards aspect. The careful choosing of her prosaic lines leaves a great deal unsaid, inferred, and the pregnant pauses are uncomfortable ones.

Moschovakis attacks everything Western culture is and she attacks it violently. From over-comsumption and waste to commercialism and materialism to what passes for recreation to the new lows that technology has allowed mankind to reach, she places the whole of Western vice before the reader and forces one to look long and hard at it. Not only does she bloody the culture itself but she also points out exactly what its effect on the human psyche has been. Humans are in the background of this collection and so are human emotions. In fact, those emotions society might consider as virtuous in a human being- desire, humor- are addressed only through the viewpoint of a "Human Machine" and "Annabot". Violence to the planet and its others species is a recurring theme. This is industrialized and technologicalized poetry. It is hard, unflinching, and it wounds.

The oddest thing about the four long poems that make up this book is that they do not feel political at all. One's logic says they are, that they must be and fiercely so. But they do not feel it. They do not read it. Somehow, despite extremely dark and heavy material, Moschovakis manages to maintain an intimacy that precludes an obvious political rant.

What Anna Moschovakis has achieved with this work is to rudely awaken her readers to a reality that is very uncomfortable to admit and nearly impossible to come to terms with. It is a reality so condemning that it is easier to forget it, ignore it, or remain in ignorance of it than to address it. Bravo to Moschovakis' bravery in not only making her readers consider it, but also in being willing to face it herself.

Buy "You and Three Others Are Approaching A Lake" on Amazon.

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